The head of India’s federal investigative agency has been criticized for comments in which he appeared to suggest that if rape cannot be prevented, it can be enjoyed.

Speaking on a panel on ethics in sport late Tuesday, Ranjit Sinha, the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, used a rape analogy to explain his support for legalizing betting, which is largely outlawed in India.

Mr. Sinha told the audience that arguments against legalizing betting were “like, if you can’t prevent rape, you enjoy it. So it’s better to have something to legalize it and then earn some revenue.”

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His comments were widely reported (and misreported) in the Indian media who accused him of saying that rape was something that could be enjoyed.

For clarity of sorts, here are Mr. Sinha’s comments in full, transcribed from this video clip of the event.

“I feel that, you know, if we can have lottery in the states, if we can have casinos at some of the tourist resorts, and if the government can declare schemes about volunteer disclosure of black money and then they can so what’s the harm if we legalize betting? And above all, do we have the enforcement agencies?”

“Do we have the enforcement? It is very easy to say that if you can’t enforce it, it is like if you can’t prevent rape, you enjoy it. So it’s better to have something to legalize it and then earn some revenue rather than throwing your hands up and let things happen…”

For sure, Mr. Sinha’s comments were slightly convoluted and he may have been a victim of his own ineloquence on this occasion, but women’s groups said this was no excuse for drawing comparisons with rape in the first place.

Mr. Sinha on Wednesday sought to clarify his remarks in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. The director, who has been in office for just under a year, said that his comments at the event were made in relation to a question about legalizing betting.

“I gave my opinion that betting should be legalised and that if the laws cannot be enforced that does not mean that laws should not be made,” Mr. Sinha said in an emailed statement. “This is as erroneous as saying that if rape is inevitable one should lie back and enjoy it. Laws should be strictly enforced and absence of enforcement does not mean that laws should not be made. I reiterate my deep sense of regard and respect for women and my commitment for gender issues,” he said.

The director later told a news conference that he regretted any hurt caused and it “was inadvertent and unintended.”

India has been involved in a nationwide conversation about violence against women since the gang rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in Delhi in December. The crime, for which four men have been sentenced to death, spurred nationwide outrage and prompted changes in laws to safeguard women.

The National Commission for Women, a constitutional body, has sent a notice to Mr. Sinha asking him to explain his comments.

Shamina Shafiq, a member of the NCW, said the remarks were unfortunate — and shocking. “This shows the mindset in India of patriarchy in every strata of society,” she said. “To talk so insensitively about an issue which women feel so strongly about, no matter what context it was said, was irresponsible. He is the director of the CBI; when any atrocity happens to a woman, she looks up to their machinery to help her,” she added.

Ms. Shafiq argued that to use the language of rape, apart from to describe the crime, in an analogy or simile was inappropriate as it “crushed the souls” of those affected by the crime to hear it used so lightly.

In August, popular fiction author, Chetan Bhagat, aroused ire on Twitter when he described India’s currency as having been raped. He deleted the tweet after many users on the social networking site pointed out that using the metaphor was inappropriate in a country that has witnessed a series of violent attacks.

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